|
By Peter T. Chattaway
MOVIE
Summertime looms, which means the movie studios are
pouring out their biggest and boldest entertainments in a bid to keep us
going to the multiplex. As is often the case these days, sequels and
comic-book movies dominate the field – but there are other films,
too. Here are a few of the more interesting flicks on the horizon. As
always, release dates are subject to change.
Iron Man (May 2) stars Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark, a billionaire
industrialist who barely survives a terrorist attack in Afghanistan, after
which he builds a sophisticated flying suit of armour to become the flawed
superhero Iron Man. Jeff Bridges plays Stark's nemesis Obadiah Stane, and
was reportedly influenced in his portrayal by the Book of Obadiah, which he
says is all about “retribution.”
Son of Rambow (May 9) takes place in the 1980s and concerns a couple of British boys who discover
First Blood on VHS
(remember that?) and decide to make their own Rambo movies with a
home-video camera. One slight problem: One of the boys is from a Plymouth
Brethren family and is not allowed to watch movies at all.
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (May 16) promises to be darker and more violent than The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe – and it promises to stray even further from the
original book. In England, where the Pevensie children live, only one year
has passed since their earlier adventure, but in Narnia, centuries have
gone by and magic has been all but banished by the ruling Telmarines
– but one member of the royal family, Prince Caspian, sides with the
Narnians. So when the Pevensies return to Narnia, they find themselves in
the middle of a civil war.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (May 22) finds our hero 20 years older and fighting
off Communists instead of Nazis – but most importantly, it seems the
film will bring him into contact with aliens, rather than the divine. Or
perhaps the film will draw some sort of connection between science fiction
and religion. For now, only George Lucas and Steven Spielberg know for
sure.
WALL-E (June 27) is,
by all accounts, one of the darkest films from Pixar yet – but it
also looks like one of their cuter films, thanks to its E.T.-like
protagonist. The film takes place centuries into the future, after humans
have turned the earth into a garbage dump and retreated into space, leaving
behind robots like WALL-E to clean the place up. WALL-E himself meets, and
falls for, a female robot named EVE – and surely her name can't be
all that big a coincidence. New beginnings, anyone?
|
The Dark Knight (July 18)
picks up where Batman Begins left off, with millionaire Bruce Wayne wearing a funny suit
to fight crime and Lt. James Gordon fretting that the newer, flashier
method of crimefighting will unintentionally attract newer, flashier kinds
of criminals – such as a new, bizarre character known only as The
Joker. The film will also feature district attorney Harvey Dent –
who, in the comics at least, eventually becomes the supervillain Two-Face.
The previous film had some powerful things to say about personal and social
justice, so expect more of the same here.
Tropic Thunder (August 15) stars Ben Stiller, Jack Black and Robert
Downey Jr. as actors who are filming a Vietnam War movie when their
producers decide to dump them in the middle of a real-life war zone.
Hijinks ensue. The film is already notorious for the fact that Downey is
playing a white actor who plays a black man.
DVD
In addition to the theatrical films mentioned above,
the following films – which have already played in theatres –
are coming out on DVD, too.
Bella (May 6)
concerns a chef with a troubled past who takes a special interest in one of
his co-workers when she reveals that she is pregnant and thinking about
getting rid of her unborn child. Set in New York and produced by Mexican
Catholics, the film was heavily promoted as a "pro-life" movie
when it came out in theatres, but it isn't a narrow "issues"
based movie. Instead, the chef's reasons for wanting to save the child are
more personal than ideological -- so the story is motivated more by its
characters rather than by any sort of agenda, and that's perfectly fine.
National Treasure: Book of Secrets (May 20). The original film revolved
around secrets buried deep within the relics of the American Revolution;
the new film tackles some of the more puzzling mysteries to emerge from the
Civil War. A little more intense than its predecessor, Book of Secrets is
nonetheless good, silly, escapist fun -- with just enough true facts thrown
into the mix to keep you guessing how much of it is for real. Expect to
spend lots of time with Wikipedia after watching this one.
Options Spring 2008
|
